


Expectations

by ohclare



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-02
Updated: 2013-02-02
Packaged: 2017-11-27 23:25:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/667662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohclare/pseuds/ohclare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eponine isn't sure what to expect from university...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Expectations

Eponine wasn’t quite sure what to expect from university. Her flatmates all seem nice but when she suggests going to the union on their first night only pretty innocent Cosette seems to be interested, the others just shrug and say they don’t drink. So just the two of them get tipsy off a bottle of wine before heading out, and if she plays the music a little too loud they deserve it.

She spends most of the night with a tall dark haired guy who is probably one of the best looking people she’s ever met even if he does keep on ‘accidently’ putting his hands up her skirt on the dance floor. He slips her his number when she says her flatmate wants to go home though and winks at her when she puts it in her bra. Cosette doesn’t seem to have missed her, somehow she found a quiet corner and avoided sleazy guys all night.

Eponine isn’t sure how many people they meet that week but she’s certain that if she was asked to give the names of more than five of them she’d fail (and that’s considering she pulls at least seven people – even if she only brings back two). When she tells Cosette in a moment of drunkenness the other girl looks faintly shocked, but then she’s managed to be invited out to dinner by at least ten guys and exchanged numbers with pretty much everyone she’s met (she’s not surprised when she sees that she has way over a thousand Facebook friends).

She calls the guy from the first night back eventually and after a friendly meeting in the pub they settle into a comfortable circle of regular sex. She knows Cosette dislikes Montparnasse so they only have ridiculously loud sex when she’s out, mainly because the girl on the other side writes the best passive aggressive notes. She’s sure she’s never going to be in love with him but he’s a really great kisser and even better in bed so why turn that down.

She meets Marius in one of her classes a couple of weeks into term when she desperately needs someone to steal notes off for the last lecture. Really she’s not sure whether she’s ever met a nicer person in her life (Cosette excepted of course) and soon enough she’s using him every time she ‘forgets’ to go and he doesn’t even mind. Quick chats after a lecture quickly turn into lunch dates where she frantically copies down his notes while he tries to explain what she’s missed and once she learns Cosette has a scanner their lunches just turn into gossiping sessions about their terrible lecturers and occasionally their friends.

When Cosette tells her that he sounds like a much more suitable boyfriend than Mont she just laughs but really she can’t help but wonder what it’d be like to kiss him. She knows she’s kind of in love with him even if he doesn’t feel the same way about her.

She blames herself when she invites him over to her flat for dinner, she should have known that he’d fall for Cosette instantly (because really who doesn’t) but she hadn’t expected her to fall for him just as bad. Not that either of them admit it but she’s not sure who they think they’re fooling.

Her and Mont call it off for a bit after that and she pretends she’s not upset. They still chat in the street or he just gives her one of his winks as he swans past. They only have one drunken fumble in the back of a taxi and she never tells anyone about it.

It’s almost the end of term when Marius invites her to meet his friends. When she asks Cosette if she wants to come she claims she has an exam to revise for even if she does really want to come.

Eponine isn’t quite sure how Marius became friends with these argumentative talkative political guys but she instantly warms to them. They’re all very different to the people she normally would befriend but she’s realized since moving away that difference is a good thing. Grantaire tells her the rules of the Amis but pretty quickly she learns that the main one is that every time Enjolras starts philosophising everyone has to drink until he shuts up, and it doesn’t take long for all of them to be very drunk.

She doesn’t mean to kiss Marius but it seems to happen before she can stop herself. She’s only grateful that he’s so drunk too that he kisses her back. Eponine realizes when she hears the wolf whistles from his friends that it was far better to fantasise about than to actually happen so when they pull apart and he slurs something about being better as friends she can only agree wholeheartedly. She doesn’t tell Cosette about the kiss though.

Gradually she finds herself spending more and more time at Enjolras’ flat (which happens to be the central meeting point for the Amis as well as being much closer to university than her own) and spending time with them even when Marius isn’t there. Enjolras tells her that she encourages Grantaire’s drinking too much but she’s not sure how anyone could survive one of his speeches sober even with looking at his beautiful face. He threatens to kick her out after she tells him that but he never gets around to it.

She tries dating Jehan for a bit but it turns out his poetry is much better than his kissing.

She goes back to Mont when remembers how great he is with his tongue but somehow his looks aren’t as great in comparison with Enjolras’, his jokes aren’t as great as Grantaire’s and quite frankly he’s a terrible listener. So after a bout of casual sex they break it off again and she tries to swear off boys for a while.

Instead her and Grantaire decide to focus on getting Marius and Cosette to admit their feelings for each other but eventually they get bored of waiting and instead get them both to Enjolras’ at the same time before locking them in a cupboard together. If they don’t regret it a week later, when the two of them are disgustingly soppy together, the rest of the Amis do.

Eponine considers trying to set up Grantaire and Enjolras but she’s quickly told that apparently the last time they tried that Enjolras refused to talk to any of them for a month and Grantaire almost got himself sent to rehab. She readily sets up a betting pool though.

Her and Cosette move in together at the end of year and she readies herself for dealing with a very annoying couple constantly for the next two years (although she’s willing to admit they’ve very quiet). She doesn’t bother to go home over the summer and instead spends her time helping Enjolras launch his online revolution (saving the trees without leaflets is the idea even if her and Grantaire aren’t that convinced).

Gavroche isn’t meant to turn up on her doorstep in the middle of October with a massive bag on his back but he does so anyway. She hadn’t quite realized that he was going to by himself at home now that Alezma had gone to university as well. There isn’t really enough room in the flat for him but when she discovers that their mother doesn’t seem to have noticed that he had run away she tells him he can stay if he wants. The Amis are more helpful than she would have thought and between all of them she manages to get him enrolled in school in less than a week and get the ball rolling on gaining custody. She almost feels like crying in gratitude and hopes that she can at least do a better job than her parents have so far.

He’s barely been there a month before she’s called in to deal with him causing trouble at school and she doesn’t blame him really but when she asks him if he really wants to end up like their parents or fight his way out like her she knows he understands. Perhaps she was lucky enough to be clever but she’s determined that he’s going to achieve too even if it’s not as easy for him as it was for her. When he’s given glowing reports from all his teachers at parents’ evening she’s never been more proud.

She dates Grantaire for a while but it doesn’t really work out when really they both know he’s in love with Enjolras and having your kid brother around is a serious cockblocker.

Most of the Amis graduate at the end of the year but none of them seem that keen to move away. Cosette moves in with Marius and Eponine and Gavroche end up moving in with Enjolras somehow (they even get separate bedrooms for the first time since really his flat is ridiculously large). Alezma stays with them most of the summer and Eponine is hugely grateful that she met Marius all that time ago because really without him and his friends she’s not sure what would have happened to them.

She starts dating Mont again and she can almost hear the collective groan from the Amis. They all try and tell her than she deserves so much better than him but she tells herself that they don’t understand him really. It’s only when Gavroche makes an offhand comment about how similar he is to their dad that she realizes that she has to break it off for good. This time she even deletes his number from her phone.

It’s New Years Eve when Enjolras finally realizes that he’s in love with Grantaire and kisses him in the middle of the countdown. Courf wins the bet.

It’s three weeks later when Eponine sits them both down and reminds them that a fifteen year old lives in the flat and doesn’t need to hear them having sex. She flushes red when Grantaire tells her that he gave him the sex talk back when they were dating and again while she was dating Mont and he’ll give another one about gay sex if she’s really that bothered. Gavroche comes to her a couple of days later and tells her that he’s pretty sure he’s not gay in case she was wondering.

She spends most of the next few months in the library determined to pass her degree despite the frequent political meetings being held in their flat, she’s pretty sure she preferred it when Grantaire wasn’t encouraging Enjolras and was instead pining over him.

No one’s surprised in the slightest when Marius and Cosette announce their engagement. Eponine wins that bet although when they promise they’re not pregnant Joly wins the other pot. She almost laughs at the shocked look on Marius’ face.

She doesn’t bother inviting her parents to her graduation and instead Gavroche and Grantaire cheer her on as she crosses the stage. She sends them a note telling them though and even though she didn’t expect a reply she still struggles not to burst into tears when she gets nothing. Cosette supplies her with a regular stream of chocolate for a month.

Eponine wasn’t sure to expect from university but when she looks at her friends she’s more glad than she ever could say


End file.
